San Francisco Frontiers - Stokes out for 30 in final Test innings after shock England retirement

The 35-year-old all-rounder confirmed his impending exit shortly before tea on the fourth day of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand in Nottingham, having informed his teammates in the dressing room at Trent Bridge before the start of Sunday's play, with the three-match series locked at 1-1.

Stokes was in the middle of a lengthy bowling spell when news filtered into a stunned crowd as he was about to start his 11th over.

He then received a standing ovation from spectators at Trent Bridge.

And in a moment of pure sporting theatre, Stokes had Zak Foulkes caught at slip with his next ball to spark yet more raucous cheers.

As if that were not enough drama, Stokes -- normally a middle-order batsman -- came out to open the innings for just the third time in his 122-Test career after New Zealand set England set a stiff victory target of 373 following an unbeaten century from Daryl Mitchell.

Stokes signalled his intentions with a fierce drive off his first balls faced before he was dropped soon afterwards.

He later lofted New Zealand's Zak Foulkes, a concussion substitute, for a legside six and the left-handed batsman cleared the ropes again when he slog-swept seamer Nathan Smith.

But a 20-ball innings, also featuring two fours, ended when Stokes slogged Foulkes to wide mid-on, with England 50-1 in the eighth over of their chase.

Sunday's bombshell announcement came after Stokes returned to England duty at Trent Bridge following the fall-out from a London nightclub incident also involving teammate Gus Atkinson earlier this month.

The pair were omitted from a 253-run defeat in the second Test at the Oval -- which levelled this three-match series at 1-1 -- for breaking a midnight curfew while celebrating England's win in the first Test.

Stokes was later handed a written conduct warning but escaped any further disciplinary action and returned to lead the side at Trent Bridge.

- 'Defining figure' -

Telling his teammates his celebrated England career would end after the finish of the New Zealand series, Stokes said in a clip shared by the ECB: "There's something that I know is going to happen over the next two days, which is my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England.

"Reasons can wait but I've had many trips to the well before for this team, for you blokes, for people beforehand and I've got one more trip to do.

"And the only thing that I ask, please, is can everyone please just do the same? We've got a lot of hard work still to do."

Stokes, captain of the Test side since 2022, has been responsible for some of England's most remarkable performances in Test and limited overs cricket since making his white-ball debut 15 years ago.

His unbeaten 84 against New Zealand in the 2019 I50-over World Cup final at Lord's helped take the match into a Super Over in which England sealed a thrilling win.

And weeks later his extraordinary 135 not out guided England to a remarkable one-wicket win in the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley.

A stunning 258 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2016 remains his highest Test score, with Stokes also having taken more than 250 Test wickets as well.

"Ben Stokes leaves the international game as one of England's greatest ever cricketers and one of the defining figures of his generation," said England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Richard Thompson..

Stokes, however, also experienced several low moments on and off the field in his England career as well.

England were just six balls away from winning the 2016 T20 World Cup, with the West Indies needing an unlikely 19 off the last over of the final in Kolkata.

But Stokes was struck for four successive sixes by Carlos Brathwaite and cut a crestfallen figure at the finish.

And in September 2017, Stokes was arrested in the early hours after a fracas outside a nightclub in Bristol, southwest England, following a one-day international against the West Indies.

He was ultimately found not guilty on a charge of affray in a criminal trial 11 months later, but by then Stokes had missed an Ashes series loss in Australia.

P.Adams--SFF